98 FAMILIAR FEATURES OF THE ROADSIDE. 



This is not the case with the white cricket ; he 

 is the soul of rhythmical accuracy. Our brown 

 cricket, hke the grasshopper, makes his music by ar 

 rapid vibration of his wings. The song is produced 

 by a rubbing together of the superior wings, which 

 are hard, glassy, and roughened on their contiguous 

 edges ; thus, the rapid flitting of the wings produces 

 the musical stridulation — more musical and less strid- 

 ulous, however, than the grasshopper's zigging note. 

 It is, of course, scarcely necessary for nie to remark 

 that it is not the female but the male insect who 

 is always the musician. 



There are several species of crickets which are 

 common. The one I have already mentioned is most 

 generally found in fields and on roadsides ; it is what 

 is called a social cricket — that is, it lives with its fel- 

 lows and does not inhabit a burrow. Another com- 

 mon cricket {Gryllus Pennsylv anions) burrows under 

 every stone in my garden ; he is not a social char- 

 acter. 



The tiny spotted cricket {NeynoUus vittatus), of a 

 brownish striped color, is still another singer whose 

 spasmodic, interrupted chirp is constantly heard in 

 the fields during late summer and early autumn, 

 from JSfew Hampshire to Maryland and I^ebraska. 

 This musician has a variable song made up of a trill 

 and a sharp preparatory click, thus : 



